Core Concepts: Strategy, Tactics, Placement.... Part 1

Hello and welcome to the Scrumcast...

Oh crap, sorry about that. Sometimes I just miss those corny intros.


Intro

So way back I wrote about different strategies and tactics I would utilize to try to get the most effectiveness out of my army. I wanted to bring some of that back but start with a broader topic about the fundamentals of this game.

Now for many of you the topics covered in this article may seem rudimentary. I would urge you to not dismiss them because of this. Knowing these things and executing them in each game, turn, and move is completely different. Doing these things in a timely manner is to master the basics of this game.


Define it for me

So let's jump in by defining what I mean by strategy, tactics, and placement. Strategy is your over all vision of how you see the game playing out. Tactics are the means to which you achieve the milestones defined by your strategy. Placement is how you enable yourself to execute the tactics you are planning to utilize.


Let's Strategize

So once you know the scenario and opponent you are facing you should begin thinking about your path to victory. In this game we have a few paths to victory; Scenario, Caster Kill, and Clock. Now I know someone out there is going to start yelling about their screen "ATTRITION!!!". So let me explain, attrition is a means to any of those victory conditions. If attrition is as deep as your strategy goes, what will you do when you hit end game? For example when you finally choose scenario as your path to victory, will you have the pieces available and in place?

Of course you cannot expect everything to go as planned, after all your opponent has a brain too. So when working out your strategy it is key to identify the pieces that enable your path to victory. If you lose those pieces you need to have a back up plan. This may seem like I am telling you to be precog, but really with some experience you can identify the general flow of the game. And if something does happen that you never expected, in future games you can account for it.

The last piece for working out a sound strategy is identifying the pieces your opponent has that will hinder your path to victory. Again this takes experience and knowledge of your opponents army, so in each game you will be better able to do this. Sometimes you may even have to choose a different path to victory due to certain problem pieces. Identifying this before deployment is key to a winning strategy.

If you can come up with a basic strategy before deployment starts you are on the path to giving your opponent a great game. To wrap up this article lets try to lay out a very basic game plan.


Example???

The scenario is close quarters and I am playing Grim Angus vs. Cryx. I determine my best path to victory is scenario via dominating my flag. I set up 4 milestones;

Score turn 2 and contest the opponents flag
Clear my flag on turn 3 to score again, contest enemy flag, make Grim difficult to kill.
Clear my flag again turn 4 using feat for back to back points.
Clear my flag turn 5 for the win.

I know based on my milestones Grim and my flag cleaners are the key to victory. I can sacrifice much of my army as long as I have enough attacks to continue clearing my flag off. As for my jammers, I just need enough bodies to prevent my opponent from scoring back to back multiple times. Looking at my opponents deployment and army list I can determine the issues they will present and roughly what turn I will need to deal with them.

If I were to lose Grim, its game over, but if my opponent is able to swarm my flag or remove my enough of my flag cleaners I can attempt to audible to a caster kill. Because of the scenario and my mad grab for control points, my opponent is more than likely moving their caster forward to grab points of their own. If all hell has broken loose and there is no chance of getting their caster I will grab as many control and kill points as possible to help my tie breakers.

As for identifying the problem pieces my opponent has we know Raiders jamming into my flag can be a problem. As can a bile thrall getting too far forward and removing my flag cleaners. We won't dig much deeper than that for the sake of simplicity.


Next Time

That's all for part 1 of this series. Next time I will attempt to tackle tactics and give some examples from a game on vassal.

Thanks for reading,
-nosrek

Skywise's Guide to the Merc Life: Bounty Hunters!

-You're wanted dead or alive. Just draw- Dead is a lot easier. -Dannon Blythe

Dannon & Bull take down a Legion Forsaken.

In order to make my first tactica post Trollblood related, I decided to focus on a Merc unit that will actually work for Trollbloods - Dannon Blythe & Bull. This unit is actually a tier requirement for a Grim Angus theme list! I've been using them in quite a few games lately, including them in my Drake MaccBain slow-grow league list, so I will share a few tips and tricks with them. To start, I would like to address a few questions that pop up on the Merc boards frequently:

Q: Are Dannon & Bull worth their point cost? - A: No, not really. At a whooping 4 points for a character unit, that puts you in the same range as Aiyana & Holt, the Black 13th, Min. Steelheads, Min Kriel Warriors, almost any 2 Merc solos, etc. All of the mentioned are better values for the points.

UNBOUND--Preliminary Thoughts

By Saerko

So one of the cool things that's recently been announced is UNBOUND for Warmachine/Hordes. The basic idea is that it's a more fun way to do huge, 150+ point games and simulate epic battles that occur in Caen. One of the best examples of this from a Trollblood perspective is the defense of Crael Valley by Grissel Bloodsong, Calandra Truthsayer and Grim Angus against the traitorous Cygnarn 4th army. Normally, games like this suck because you spend an hour waiting for your turn while your opponent wails on you, and whoever goes first ends up with a serious advantage because they can tie together massive and ridiculous combos that kill everything on your side by the end of turn 2. Having played these games in the past, I wasn't entirely a fan.

Unbound has me excited though. The concept is thus: you divide your force by battlegroup, and each battlegroup then can activate X number of solos and units--let's call them detachments--each round. It's alternating activations by these detachments (i.e. you-go-I-go). You can't activate the detachment used at the bottom of the last round at the top of the next, preventing nasty double-dipping. Games are typically played on a GW-size board, so 4x6 feet. Initiative changes every round, so you never can be sure if you'll be reacting or leading.

Epic Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia - a Guide to our Dire troll warlock

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia - Trollblood Trollkin Epic Warlock

by Gython

Epic Doomshaper is THE Trollbloods ultimate dire troll warlock. With his feat & spells, he is our prime delivery system of massive muscle, tooth and claw. He is a warlock who requires a bit of set up and positioning to be played effectively, but if done right your opponent's large and/or juicy targets will feel the full brunt of your dires.
Red: Muy MUY IMPORTANTÉ!
Orange: Very VERY GOOD
Black: Average, for eDoomy's purposes anyway

Statline
Epic Doomshaper's stats won't be winning him any awards, by far. All of his stats are below average except for his FURY of 7. He has sub-par defense, only one more that the majority of the rest of our army's Def. His ARM isn't great either, the same as our Kriel warriors. His CMD is poor and his health boxes are a little below average as well. But despair not! We aren't taking him for his stats, aside from his FURY…

Sample 35 point Edoomy list:
by Gython

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia -6
Troll Axer +6
Dire Troll Bomber +10
Earthborn Dire Troll +10
Earthborn Dire Troll +10
Trollkin Runebearer +2
Troll Whelps +2
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) +1

The bomber is there to explode the forward units, the axer's animus helps the EBDT's get where they need to be on feat turn. And Moses is there to put Wild agression on the second EBDT - 'nuff said!

Here comes the thunder: Horthol, Long Rider Hero - A tactical treatise

By Lord Xalys

Hello there, dear community,

Since it has been a while for me writing a full tactica (starting the Retribution discussions at the faction's inception was my last endeavour), I figured I'd pick a Trollblood model I love on all fronts; looks, stats and fluff (the quote below warms my heart every time I read it): Horthol, Long Rider Hero. Of course I aim to have this thread taken up in the 'For Kith and Kriel'-sticky, so I'd better make this read worthwile for you all...


Horthol, Long Rider Hero"That one is all heart. If I put him at the front of battle, victory is certain, If I ask him to watch my faniliy, I sleep assured of their safety" -Madrak Ironhide

Calandra, The Dark Mother ~ by Sevwall

Beware trollblood players. The Dark Mother brooks no disrespect, and her powers are insidious. She controls the dice, and through them, the game. Play her with regularity and you will expect the dice to respond to your beck and call. Addicted to the power, games with other casters seem hollow, as fickle dice refuse to bow to your whim. She is powerful, but once played she refuses to play second fiddle to anyone else.

If you are weak willed, I suggest you stop right here. If not, continue on, and see the face of true power.

Calandra
Alias: Cali, Sexy Trollkin, Dice ****er

Calandra doesn’t play the same game as everyone else. She manipulates models, but more importantly she manipulates the dice. Other casters have various powers, but they cannot turn a roll of a 3 into a roll of a 9. Calandra can, with ease, in two separate ways. She is fragile, but her spells and dice manipulation makes her one of the most survivable casters we have. She lacks some power to kill things herself, but even then she will stalk and kill the wounded with her vicious dagger.

Calandra, The Dark Mother, Lists ~ by Sevwall

Top Lists
This is the basic list that I use when I want to win. It is not a nice list and it’s not a good way to win friends. However, it will consistently win you games.

Points: 35
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scibe Chronicler (2pts)
Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

This is essentially a burrower list. I would read the Burrownomicon before playing it. Essentially, your main offense is burrowers, which you support with your copious support solos. The Fennblades play cleanup and the Bomber clears out high DEF stuff that you can’t hit, or boosts damage to cripple heavies. The game ends on scenario or in a quick attrition grind.

So, you want to have a non-burrower list, because you have some small measure of fairness and honor. Okay, another winning list. We will take it up to 50 points to compensate for the lack of burrowers.

Points: 50
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades/UA (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Fellcaller Hero (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Runebearer (2pts)

This is a slightly friendlier list. Fennblades are your massively first striking unit with the UA, and the feat and the Fellcaller mean that they will crush most opposition. The Nyss strike from the sides, picking off support on the feat turn and generally being a pain with Starcrossed DEF 15. Mulg follows in the back, slowly, inexorably making his way toward the caster to pummel them in the face. Janissa plays guard duty for Calandra, and prepares to dive into combat to forcelock any flanking threats. Its slightly experimental, because Janissa and the UA aren’t out yet and I’ve only gotten a few games in with them, but I’ve run the list with 5 other points in their place (hero and chronicler) and the theory is sound.

What to do when your plan rolls a double 1

I'm sure we have all been in the situation where you miss that critical double handed throw or your Mauler looses his Mind aspect due to free strikes on that all important trample.Dealing with that situation can be hard in some cases so here is how i usually handle it.

First thing to do is take a step back and not panic! It is incredibly easy to enter a state of panic when you see that Trample distance die just tip over onto the one eyed side.  This is perfectly natural, your plan failed and your in a bad spot,  but to make sure you dont do something hasty and loose the game, its so very important to just take a step back from the table and let that feeling of panic pass.

eHoarluk 50pt level by Beckman

eHoarluk, 50 PT level.

I'm a beast player at heart, but I like to have the best matchups that I can across the board. This is a problem, since infantry likes to eat beasts. So what's the answer? Ranged attacks. The bomber eats the infantry that eats the beasts and doesn't do badly against beasts. Let's take two. Good. Let's throw in an Impaler for the extra range. What if they have Solid Ground? Well, we'll throw in a Pyre for the Continous Effect: Fire and Strength Animus against high ARM. Add an Axer for the movement and pathfinder. I'm throwing in a Bouncer because I like Shield Guarding against CRAs and the Reaper's Drag. Add the KSB in for extra durability, some whelps, and the Runebearer (for the fury reduction on your animi) and you're good to go.

Alright, but which caster?

Grim is a good one. He has a SPD buff for your beasts on his gun, He can knockdown the enemy, can debuff DEF, make your beasts get Hunter, and has tremendous board denial - BUT the beasts run REALLY fury hot, and as a 6 FURY caster, it's hard to handle.

Calandra is also a good one, but she has no speed buffs for your troops or debuffs to speed for the enemy. She can make your beasts SING with rerolls, Star Crossed, and Soothing Song. Without her feat, your troops aren't really that great in melee. She doesn't have DEF debuffs like Grim and Stealth Lists are a serious problem.

Initially, I just considered the above two... as they were the ones that came to mind. I had developed a preconception that a certain angry old troll only wanted to work with a diversity of Dire Trolls and Mulg. Oh how wrong I was.

Finally, the list:

Burrowers Useage Diagram

Trollblood Toolbox ~ Where to Start with Trolls

Rewritten HERE

Awesome Armies ~ Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia by Just Cabal

So here it is, our final installment of Awesome Armies.  Just Cabal was nice enough to put together his version of the eDoomshaper list he likes to run.  Included on the left is a poll about the Five armies contributed.  Which do you folks like the best... you can vote for multiples if you like.

(E) Hoarluk Doomshaper +6

Earthborn Dire Troll - 10

Dire Troll Mauler - 9

Krielstone Bearer (full) - 4

- Stone Scribe Elder - 1

Trollkin Champions - 10

Troll Whelps - 2

Troll Whelps - 2

Trollkin Champion Hero - 3

Total 35 Pts

Awesome Armies ~ Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia

I have to post it for one simple reason, at the 25point level, this army is undefeated for me with seven wins.  When I reduced the point level to 15 points it lost and when I upgraded to 35 points it lost.  25 seems to be just right.  So here it is, the list I have aptly named 'The Dire Three Way'.

Dire Three Way
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (*6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)

Awesome Armies ~ Madrak Ironhide, World Ender by Sevwall

I'm competative. I want to win. When I really want to win, I turn to this list. Its fast, its mean, and it tries to remove any good answer that your opponent has. It’s geared towards in your face aggression and centered in the fact that any model in the army has a decent chance of killing anything on the opposite side of the table. MadrakII may be fated to end the world, but he’s going to end the opposition first. As it is meant to be a tournament list, it is build for the 35 point level.

35/35
Madrak, World Ender (*5pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Stone Scibe Chronicler (2pts)
Fellcaller Hero (3pts)
Totem Hunter (3pts)

How to win by PPS_Mod:Josh

This post was orginally posted HERE on the Privateer Press Forums by PPS_MOD JOSH.  It sums things up nicely and so I wanted to include it here.


If you're reading this, it's because of one of two reasons. The first is that you saw a thread started by a red name and you're curious to see what I have to say. The other is that you're interested in finding out how to win. I'll do my best to make it worth your while either way.


You see, I just read yet another topic discussing faction imbalances, and how a particular model is overpowered. There have been topics like this since the beginning, back when people eagerly awaited the chance to pick up the shiny new Cygnar and Protectorate battle boxes.

So I figured it was about time to explain how you can win, regardless of faction, point total, or army list. I expect some of you will ignore this and move on. Hopefully others will read it, think about it, and rely upon it.

Nightfall Unique Model(s) breakdown vs Trolls

This post originally posted on the PP Forums HERE

This is a completely theorymachined article analyzing our opponents models for the league, and the implications of said models.If you have your own theory machine, it is fully welcome. If you have actual experience, even better.

Everblight – Nephelim Warder
Gains – 10" Lamentation Animus, Magic Weapon, Blessed Weapon, Force Barrier
Loses – 1 POW, Massacre animus, 1 DEF
Replacement effect: Minimal. It can fulfill an almost identical role if necessary. The main difference is the loss of Massacre.
Likelyhood of use: Very high. Who doesn’t want lamentation? Additionally, its more resilient to ranged attacks and is nearly as potent in combat, more so against defensively buffed models.
Fighting it: Almost exactly the same. Luckily we rely much more on melee than most, so Force Barrier means nothing. That said, Lamentation crushes some of out better casters, so expect to have to kill this sooner rather than later. The 10” range should mean that you can get to it rather easily. If its on a caster, like, say, eThagrosh, it will be a much greater problem, and you will have to just deal. Mulg to strip the animus away might be a good option, and other than that Grim or either Madrak don’t usually cast all that much.